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2 drown in Serbia as floods hit across Balkans

Published on NewsOK
Modified: May 15, 2014 at 12:29 pm •
Published: May 15, 2014

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BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Two people drowned in Serbia and the country declared a national emergency Thursday as rain-swollen rivers across the Balkans flooded roads and bridges, shut down schools and cut off power. Hundreds of people had to be evacuated.

A man evacuates his daughter from their home hit by flood waters as police officers help out in a suburb of Belgrade, Serbia, Thursday, May 15, 2014. Some hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes as floods caused by heavy rains gripped the Balkans Thursday, overflowing roads, bridges and railways, closing down schools, and cutting off power supplies and phone lines. (AP Photo/Marko Drobnjakovic)

In Serbia and neighboring Bosnia, meteorologists said the rainfall was the most since measuring started 120 years ago. Belgrade authorities say the average rainfall of a two-month period hit the city in just 40 hours.

"What we are facing is the biggest water catastrophe in Serbia's history," Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said as his government appealed for help from the European Union, Russia and neighboring countries.

Surging water coursed through towns and villages, overflowing across streets and into homes, sweeping bridges off their moorings. Sodden hills crumbled into landslides. Dozens of buses and cars were stranded on flooded roads and two main north-south railway lines in Serbia were impassable.

River levels rose all over Bosnia, including the capital Sarajevo.

Maglaj, a town 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the Bosnian capital, was cut off by water surging into streets. Some 6,000 people asked to be evacuated, with some residents sitting on roofs waiting for help.

"The situation is alarming," said Mehmed Mustabasic, the mayor of Maglaj. "We have no electricity, the phones are not working. We are cut off from the rest of the world."

Bosnian military helicopters evacuated hundreds of people. The EU troops in Bosnia joined the effort with trucks and helicopters, but many roads remained stuck as snow blanketed higher elevations. Most schools were closed.